NJ5934 wrote:I really hope if we are going to throw 7 or 8 million at an UFA, it's Suter before Parise.

Not really. With Parise you are going to get somebody who will score 35-40 goals/80-90 points consistantly on Sid's line. At 7 to 8 mil/season that's pretty good production when you consider you are always going to overpay on the UFA market. Suter is a good defender, but if you are going to pay a defensemen 7 mil/year or more, you should expect some offense along with the defense. Suter will get you 7 to 10 goals max per season, and 40 to 50 points. Okay production, but not worth 7 mil/season IMHO. He is good positionally on defense, but isn't much of a hitter at all. Goligoski had more hits last year than Suter, so we don't gain anything in the physicality department. Parise is the much better option based on what you need to pay to acquire each player.

You just signed Crosby to a large term contract. Continually playing him with the likes of Dupuis/Kunitz(while they've worked out) is probably not who he imagines playing with all the time. It's time to get him a legit named winger to take all the focus off of him on that singular line.

saints11 wrote:What I always find amazing is the number of people who try to cap manage with the Pens money. Burkle and Lemeiux pay people to do that. They pay Shero to manage that. If you don't like who the Pens are after or who they sign; that is one thing, but don't worry about managing it. It is not like Shero is going to sign Parise and Suter and then say "Oh #$%*#! We just screwed ourselves!" Not going to happen. They will evaluate and offer what they want, if it is enough, then they're here if not...Plan B or C or whatever. As much as some of us think; it isn't our money.

but it's cool to talk about...hence the purpose of a message board.

Right, god forbid we discuss hypothetical options for the team as fans.

NJ5934 wrote:I really hope if we are going to throw 7 or 8 million at an UFA, it's Suter before Parise.

Not really. With Parise you are going to get somebody who will score 35-40 goals/80-90 points consistantly on Sid's line. At 7 to 8 mil/season that's pretty good production when you consider you are always going to overpay on the UFA market. Suter is a good defender, but if you are going to pay a defensemen 7 mil/year or more, you should expect some offense along with the defense. Suter will get you 7 to 10 goals max per season, and 40 to 50 points. Okay production, but not worth 7 mil/season IMHO. He is good positionally on defense, but isn't much of a hitter at all. Goligoski had more hits last year than Suter, so we don't gain anything in the physicality department. Parise is the much better option based on what you need to pay to acquire each player.

I don't agree with everything in your post, but I do agree with the premise that Suter isn't worth $7 million. Here's the thing -- and I'm sure it's been discussed in other threads -- if Suter signs here for $7 million, how would that impact Letang re-signing? Let's be honest, Letang is the team's number one defender, and it would be hard to imagine he would be happy making less than Suter. I highly doubt the Penguins could/would be able to pay two defensemen in the $7 million range. That, to me, is why I believe Parise is the top target. Sign the forward, add a defenseman via free agency (Salvador or Allen) or seek one in a trade (Yandle).

Plus, to me, it sure seems the Penguins have been silently courting Parise. Crosby with his family in the luxury sweet during the Cup Finals, Crosby agreeing to his contract and then the press conference late last week. To me, it was a sign to Parise saying "Hey, if you sign here longterm, you'll have a good friend and, oh yeah, the best player in the game centering you for the rest of your career. Add in all the talk from media outlets around the NHL suggesting teams are legitimately threatened by Pittsburgh's emerge in the Parise sweepstakes, and it all seems to add up.

If you're a defenseman and you're not a great scorer/pp qb, not very physical, not an elite puck mover, not made of sandpaper, not big... Well, someone else can pay you 7 million. Suter may be the ultimate steady hand or a master of the little things, but you don't pay that kind of money for a guy who doesn't have that "x factor" to his game. At least not if you're Pittsburgh anyways.

shmenguin wrote:If you're a defenseman and you're not a great scorer/pp qb, not very physical, not an elite puck mover, not made of sandpaper, not big... Well, someone else can pay you 7 million. Suter may be the ultimate steady hand or a master of the little things, but you don't pay that kind of money for a guy who doesn't have that "x factor" to his game. At least not if you're Pittsburgh anyways.

Suter would be a welcome addition but not at 7mil, especially considering the lack of an 'X Factor' (we all now how well that worked out for Martin at 5mil). Whilst they are both great players and I will be excited to see what happens at noon, Parise and Suter's potentially huge contracts may not be the answer.

I'm strangely obsessed with improving the 3/4th lines and effectively swapping Martin for an Allen type on D - if Shero can achieve this as well as signing Parise for 7mil I will be stoked!

conceptually, sure. in that you when they're on their game, you may not even notice them. suter's a talented guy, but defence21 made a great point - he's not our #1, and he's never going to be our #1. in a capped NHL, i don't think you spend 14-15 mill on a single defensive pairing. maybe if you're getting rafalski and lidstrom when they're still close to their primes - but not when you're getting letang and suter.

though to be clear, i wouldn't say that martin = suter. not at all. in net quality, martin on only his best day is probably suter every day.

I know free agency is the way to get a player without giving up a key guy, but this "courting" of a player who is certainly not better than Evgeni nor Sid is wrong. There is no way Mario should be following around Zach Parise begging him to come play for the pens. end rant...

THANK YOU..finally someone else on here who feels that feels the same as me. Hard to make any comments on here anymore without someone bashing your comments. I look at it this way, this should have been a slam dunk, done deal if he really wanted to play with Crosby and the Pens. The money is there so there are no excuses NOT to play unless it is apparent, he wants to play the bidding game. Not happy with how he is going about this even if the Pens do win out on this.